


comparison

by chivalrousAmour



Category: Fire Emblem Echoes: Mou Hitori no Eiyuu Ou | Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
Genre: 'the ship content you didn't have to make yourself', F/M, but that seemed like hubris, i almost tagged this with 'i am the rarepair blessing you prayed for', this is for the four people i saw who shipped this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-24
Updated: 2018-07-24
Packaged: 2019-06-15 16:00:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15416520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chivalrousAmour/pseuds/chivalrousAmour
Summary: They fight, they yell, they push each other to be better, they talk, they worry about each other, they accidentally spend all their time together...They didn't mean to fall in love, but, well, you know what, they're fine with it.





	comparison

They both push people away.

Kliff has trouble interacting with even the people he considers friends, and Faye doesn't want to talk to anyone unless it's about Alm.

That’s why, when the knock comes on his door one night, he’s surprised. It was unthinkable that it could be anything but a mission or something for the group to do, so when he opens the door to find Faye standing there, he almost doesn’t know what to say.

“Tobin says you’re acting weird, so I decided to check on you,” she says immediately.

“I always act like this,” Kliff answers. “If he doesn’t realize it, then it’s his problem.”

“Don’t give me that, Alm’s getting worried too, you know,” Faye implores, and Kliff rolls his eyes.

“If we’re talking about things that are worrying Alm, then shouldn’t we be discussing how you’re completely obsessed with him? I’m sure he’s at least noticed the possibility by now.”

Her eye twitches, but her lips quirk into a grin.

“Yeah. He’s noticed. He rejected me, but I’m still going to do anything for him, and that includes checking on you.”

Kliff’s eyes widen a bit, before he sends her a dubious expression.

“Isn’t it pointless to keep being so devoted, then?”

She grits her teeth and almost spits out the agreement on her tongue.

The words leave coated in poison and bitterness, her eyes glaring daggers at the floor when she mutters them.

“At least I _have_ someone important to me, instead of keeping everyone at arm’s length.”

"Are you really any better?" He retorts frigidly, his gaze as deadly as Medusa's. "can you really talk when you push away everyone who isn't Alm? I bet Silque appreciates the way you’ve been treating her, right?”

“And I bet Tobin and Gray appreciate the snide comments and rude words just as much!” Faye exclaims in return.

“You’re a hypocrite.”

“So are you!”

He slams the door in her face, and she fumes.

She fumes and rants to herself as she makes her way back to her own room, cursing Kliff and everything about him. Even the fact that his room is in another side of the hideout, as far away from everyone as you could get is something that makes her mad.

Damn him. Damn his habit of pushing everyone away. Damn his arrogance, damn his sharp tongue, damn the fact that he had a point.

Faye’s feet pause in front of her room, her eyes drifting towards the door on the other end of the hall.

Kliff’s words flit through her mind.

With a heavy heart, she knocks on Silque’s door.

The cleric is shocked to see her. Shocked, yet oddly delighted.

“Hello, Silque,” Faye manages in greeting, plastering on a smile.

“Faye? I thought you’d never speak to me again.”

“Weeeell…”

* * *

 

She knocks on Kliff’s door again, gentler this time. It’s been a while since their argument, and Faye hopes that that was enough time for him to cool off. It was enough time for her to rethink her decisions and regret them.

Kliff opens the door, and she breathes out a sigh of relief.

“Can I come in? I need to talk to you,” she asks, fidgeting with her braids.

“What a coincidence, I needed to talk to you too,” Kliff replies, turning back inside his room.

He leaves his door open as he sits down at his desk. Faye enters, noting how dark his room is.

Each room in the hideout has a bed, a desk, and a chair, though, they were all donations. Clive in particular was rumoured to have taken a bed that was moldy and chewed in half by rats to spare anyone else the burden. Kliff managed to get lucky, having a bed that was intact and only smelled mildly rancid at worst. His desk has candle drippings pooling in cracks and grooves, notes he didn’t bother cleaning up fully sitting at the corner of the table, and a candle that was almost extinguished on top of it.

The most notable thing about his room were the books.

A pile as tall as the desk sits in the corner of his room, books stacked on top of each other haphazardly. (Thankfully, they were as far from the the candle as possible.) Strips of cloth and sheets were stuck between pages seemingly at random. They’re older than her grandmother and musty and make the room smell like old paper.

It seems comfortable, she thinks, her mind going back to the smell of sheep and grass and the house she grew up in. Cozy and lived-in, unlike the room she only used for sleep.

“You have a nice room,” she mentions, taking a seat on his bed.

“Thanks, but you didn’t come here to admire the decor, right?” Kliff retorts, sitting backwards in his chair to face her.

Faye chuckles in return.

“Yeah, I didn’t.” Her eyes darted to the side, her hands fidgeting in her lap. “I talked to Silque last night.”

“Oh?”

“And, well, I’m not too sure what she actually wants from a friend, or what she’s interested in, but we’re friends now.”

“I see,” is Kliff’s response.

“And I realize now that you had a point!” Faye exclaims, feeling a bit frazzled from his complete non-answer to her attempts. “I, I was pushing people away, when they did nothing wrong except for not being Alm, and I really had no right to be mad, since you were right about me.”

She punctuates her words with a nervous laugh, and Kliff speaks up.

“I had no right to be mad either. You were right about me, and I don’t even have some form of an explanation for it,” Kliff says simply.

“So, you’re not mad…?” Faye asks hesitantly.

“No, I’m not. What about you?”

“I’m not mad either!” Faye blurts out loudly.

Kliff’s response is a casual, “That’s good, then.”

Faye echoes the sentiment in a low voice, and the room falls silent. They exchange stares, but say nothing, since what else is there to say?

She wants to say something, though, since she wouldn’t just up and leave right after that. Her eyes drift away from Kliff’s face to rest on the books.

“You’ve got a lot of them,” she notes.

“Astute observation there.”

Faye turns to look at him, and after a pause, he quietly says, “Sorry.”

“Huh?”

“Trying to work on the hostility and sarcasm,” he told her. “Talked to Tobin and told him I’m horrible with cheerful people and that I didn’t really know how to interact with him… But it doesn’t mean I suddenly know how to be a good friend.”

“Looks like we’re in the same boat, then,” Faye says with a laugh.

“I guess we are.”

“I don’t mind the snark, though. It’s actually kind of funny.”

“Really?” Kliff sits up a bit straighter in his chair, eyes widening at Faye’s words.

“Yeah. If you don’t mind me not knowing what to do, I can withstand a few sarcastic comments.”

“You clearly underestimate me, thinking I can only make ‘a few’ sarcastic comments.”

Faye laughs, and Kliff laughs with her.

* * *

 

Faye makes a habit of visiting Kliff after the day ends, giving him enough time to start reading a book before knocking on his door. She always ends up sitting on his bed, asking about his book or his day or what he ate, not minding that he sometimes forgets to answer because of his attention slipping. Some visits, he points out a story she might like, or a history book she might be interested in, and they read together in comfortable silence.

She learns that the various strips of cloth and papers in the books were meant to mark his place, since he never actually read a book in one sitting. He would pick up a random book from the pile, read a bit, set it down, and repeat the process again and again, until he picked up the same book again and picked up where he left off. He learns to put the novels she’s interested in on his bed for her in anticipation of her arrival, since she can’t just leave a story unfinished. She would go on about her feelings about each book, rant about contrived plot devices, swear to never read a book of that genre again, only to reread the entire series because she felt she forgot something.

They’re comfortable around each other.

But it feels like they’re stepping around something important, refusing to address something just below the surface of their interactions.

They don't know what the elephant in the room is, though, until one night, after Faye laughs about a joke in one of his novels and the conversation dies out, he says, "I don't want you to be heartbroken."

Faye knows what he’s talking about, but he just keeps talking, keeps explaining because he's so rarely truly honest with his feelings that on the rare occasion he is, he often can't stop until he pours out his heart.

"I don't want you to be heartbroken. I know how Alm smiles when he thinks of Celica, you know too, right? You saw them, you heard them fight, you know how much he wants to see her and apologize but you still want him to look at you. You barely seem to notice anything else, you don't do anything unless it’s for his sake, _gods_ , you joined a _war_ for him, and I just want to see you care about something else because you're devoting all of yourself to someone who can't do the same for you.”

"Even if you say that, what else am I supposed to do?" Faye asks, and it’s not sarcastic, it's not insincere, it’s not her angry retorts or sharp barbs. Her voice is raw and cracked and desperate as she clenches her fists so tight, her nails bite into her palms. "Alm is my dream. I got through the nightmares by remembering how he _saved_ us from that monster on horseback, I got through the days by thinking of us, together. I devoted myself to him! _What else do I have?!_ "

"You're blind to not notice."

"Notice what, that he doesn't love me back?! I know that! I know that, I just- these feelings are all I have, they're all I’ve ever-"

"They're not!"

Faye looks up with her face full of tears and sees Kliff’s furious face.

“You’re blind. You don’t realize it at all! You’re spending time in _my_ room, reading _my_ books, talking to _me_ about them!”

“So what?! Why is that even important?!” Faye demands.

“I’ve been telling you, time and time again, haven’t I?!” Kliff declares, gritting his teeth together. “I don’t know how to interact with people, not even the ones I like! Do you not realize just how much it means that I am comfortable with you?! I walk across the entire building a few times every day just to avoid sharing my room with someone else and avoid running into them! How much do you think it means that I can just let you in, whenever you want?!”

Faye’s breath leaves her at those words.

“And I hate small talk, I _hate_ questions about my day, it’s a distraction, it’s annoying, and I never know what to say!” Kliff sighs, running his fingers through his hair as he deflates a little. “I let you in here because I felt guilty for our argument. But when you said you didn’t mind my… being me, and laughed at what I said instead of thinking I’m rude or cruel, I just started to trust you.”

He looks her in the eyes, and the sincerity in them startles her.

“There’s no one else I would lend my books to,” he admits. “Silque’s been happier since you became her friend. Gray and Tobin consider you a sister. Clair would love to be closer to you, and Alm has always treasured you as a friend! Are you really going to say that that’s nothing?! Are you really that insensitive?!”

Faye is stunned, before she folds over, her shoulders shaking as odd sounds escape her.

Kliff jumps to approach her, wondering what he did wrong, when Faye throws her head back with a bright smile and laughs.

She wipes her tears, thanks him, hugs him, and leaves. Kliff is completely baffled.

(The next day, Faye helps Tobin with his archery, claps at Gray's attempts at bragging, corrects one of Clair’s misconceptions about common people, and smiles.

Kliff feels his lips quirk up at the sight, but he doesn't have time to notice it, because Faye grabs him and pulls him into an explanation of magic by Silque.)

* * *

 

They keep fighting.

People get used to Faye being friendly and Kliff begrudgingly going along with it.

They get stronger.

Kliff learns to cast spells and Faye learns to ride a horse from Clive.

They keep up their chats at night.

Python starts teasing them about being sure to not stay up too late together. Forsyth earnestly adds that a proper amount of sleep is vital to morale and their performance in combat.

Lukas learns to knock on Kliff’s door if Faye isn't in her room when they gather for breakfast.

And then, one night, they’re in their usual positions, him sitting backwards in his chair to face her and her sitting on his bed, when Faye suddenly stops a conversation about a fairy tale he picked out for her.

"Hey, I... never actually thanked you, did I?"

"Huh?"

"For helping me, I mean. I didn't see anything outside of Alm, didn't appreciate what I had until you screamed it in my face.” She chuckles, and Kliff pulls a face at that.

"I didn't scream."

"Yeah, and you weren't worried about me, either, right?"

"Glad to see we're on the same page."

"Wait, what? You're joking, right?"

"I wasn't worried. I just thought you were being an idiot."

Faye rolls her eyes and Kliff folds over the corner of the page carefully. He wants to remember the page they're on, remember her face as he crosses his arms over the back of the chair and asks,

"So? Is Alm still your dream?"

Faye lets out a soundless laugh, her lips forming a humourless smile.

"It's hard, you know? There's always going to be some part of me that thinks he's going to save us all from ruin and death, I’m still going to remember his back in front of me as he fought off a knight, but I see more of him now. I see him drop his orange on the floor or accidentally give someone a bag of flour to eat and I think, _'he isn't the flawless guy I thought he was'_. I realize now that my dream of going to Ram Village with him was pretty unrealistic."

She laughs and wipes a tear from her eye.

"I don't think he's my dream anymore," she confesses, "but I want to find one. It feels empty, not having something to look forward to or something I want."

"I have a dream," Kliff blurts out. "I want to see the world. Zofia, Rigel, even other continents. I want to learn more than I ever could have."

"And meet lots of new people to be friends?” Faye adds with a grin.

"No, I don't want that," Kliff says bluntly. "I already feel strange enough, opening myself up to other people in the army. I don't want to go through that with so many people. It's enough if it’s just you."

Faye blinks, trying to process his words, but before she can, he speaks up again.

"You can come with me. Make new friends, learn new things, find things you never knew existed. You can find a new dream. You don't have to look for it alone."

He stares her in the eye, and Faye is left breathless by what she sees.

For once, he's completely honest, he's sharing all of his thoughts with her. She realizes that he's completely left his guard down around her.

She finds herself saying yes before she gives it a second thought.

(She finds out she didn't have to think about it twice.)

* * *

"Faye," Kliff starts off a week later, looking oddly irritated as he searched his pile of books. "Did you tell anyone about that night?"

Faye knows what he's talking about immediately, and laughs bashfully from her spot on his bed.

"W-well, it might have come up in a conversation with Clair and Silque... but I didn't tell them the details! I didn't tell them it was your dream or anything!" Faye adds on the second part in a hurry, knowing just how important privacy was to the man. "I just told them that you invited me to travel the earth with you and gave my life meaning again!"

Kliff accidentally knocks over half his books at that. Faye jumps up to help him, kneeling down to gather the novels with him.

She apologizes quickly, and Kliff sighs.

"Now I know why Tobin and Gray were acting so weird..."

"Huh?" Faye stares at him curiously as she divides the books into piles; fiction, non-fiction, and magic.

"Gray, well, he wasn't all that different from normal, except he kept congratulating me. Tobin, on the other hand, he almost shot an arrow in my head the moment I stepped into the same room. He warned me that he wouldn't miss if I ever hurt you."

Faye laughed.

"It's like a story, isn't it? You get engaged to a lady, her father or brother or servant threatens you to never hurt her or something like that."

"That last one is fitting for Tobin, but, overall, you're not that far off," Kliff admits as he places a trilogy in the fiction pile. "Especially since they think we just got engaged."

"...huh?" is all Faye has to say to that.

"You told the army's gossip that I gave your life meaning and that I invited you to something that could very well take our entire lives to complete," Kliff says flatly. "Out-of-context, it sounds like a proposal."

"No, it... sounds like a proposal in-context, too. You did give my life meaning again and you _did_ invite me on a trip that could take our entire lives to complete."

"They're assuming that we love each other," he tells her, and Faye pauses.

She knows that she feels something for Kliff. It’s some form of gratitude, but not quite.

She's grateful for all he's done, yes, but she doesn't have one moment, one image engraved in her mind for her mind to view at every moment. She doesn't think of him as the glowing boy who saved her, nor does she see him in the same light as Alm.

To her, Kliff is spending an hour wondering what a short poem could represent, before delving into a debate about literary devices. He's rare smiles and rarer chuckles earned only through wit and the sense of accomplishment that comes with earning one. He's the room where she cried and screamed and confided in him. He's trusting him in the same way he trusts her, knowing they wouldn't share what they know with anyone else. He's the person she drags with her into at least two conversations a day, because...

Her fingers still over a collection of horror stories when she realizes it.

He's someone she wants by her side.

His new ideas, his sarcastic comments, his sharp tongue, his dreams, his hopes, his passion for learning, his kindness, she doesn't want to let them go.

"Kliff."

His name drops from her lips before she can think.

He turns towards her, and she finds herself smiling.

"Compared to Alm, I don't think of you in the same way," she admits. "Admittedly, you're smarter than him, but you're not good at dealing with people, you get stubborn over the smallest things, you're actually pretty idealistic sometimes, when you're not cynical to the point of being pessimistic, and your brains and skills don't seem all that impressive when you look at the charismatic leader of the rebellion."

"Is there anything else you want to say, or will you let my ego die in peace without stabbing it twelve more times?" Kliff asks bluntly.

"I still need to tell you that I love you," Faye answers.

Kliff freezes at the words, shocked and baffled by her sudden turnaround.

"I see your flaws," she declares earnestly, "I know how brutal and honest you can be, I know the things about you that would drive people away, and I still want to travel the world with you."

"I'll never be able to be Alm," he warns her.

"I know. Truth be told, I don't think Alm could be the Alm I thought of, either."

"And, honestly, I’m not really eager to accept a proposal that started with you insulting me," Kliff says, though his grin is telling her that he didn't mind all that much.

"What could I do to make it up to you, then?"

"Tell me what you want to do after the war."

She laughs and tells him that he asked her to do something incredibly easy.

"I want to be by your side. It doesn't matter where we are, as long as you're happy."

"What a coincidence," Kliff says as he places a hand on her cheek, "It's the same for me too."

They're both smiling when their lips touch.

(They get stronger, they protect each other, they keep fighting.

To bring the war to an end and start their dream together.)

**Author's Note:**

> Bonus:  
> “It's too easy to not appreciate the beauty before your eyes and almost ruin it thanks to your own ignorance... I feel bad for you, but I can't let you destroy this world!"
> 
> "Sorry, but I can't let that happen. Your world of strength and power isn't the one I wanted to explore and learn about. Now, for the sake of someone important to me, can you hurry up and die?"
> 
>  
> 
> _With the war over, the couple bid Alm farewell and vanished— off to venture into far-off continents. Decades later, their son, gifted in magic, arrived in Valentia to serve the king, though he often vanished for days at a time to visit his parents in their happy home._


End file.
